London Time
by Medic Author
Summary: AU - Second Chapter of the Blue Scarf Chronicles - The newly-regenerated Doctor crash-lands in modern-day London. At the request of the Queen of England, the Doctor and one of his former (AU) companions investigate a threat that would destroy the entire country... Please review or comment! :)
1. The End of a Day

London Time

* * *

Modern-Day London at Evening

The Doctor sighed. It had been a very long day, especially after regenerating into a new incarnation.

_Flashback_  
_ The Tardis had crashed-landed into the Buckingham Palace gardens. When the Doctor opened the Tardis doors and staggered out, the first person that he saw was the Queen herself. Behind her, were a battalion of Royal Palace Guards. _

_"Ah...your Majesty...I...well...sorry about the burning roses?" the Doctor said nervously. _

_The Queen was, thankfully, more concerned about the Doctor`s well-being than being angry at the Doctor for destroying her garden and invited the Doctor for a private cup of tea in the palace. During the teatime, the Queen told the Doctor that the Master was recently sighted in London and was obviously up to some dastardly plan. The Doctor agreed to investigate this._

Present Time  
The Doctor slowly began a long walk across the city of London towards the Tardis, which was still in the palace gardens. It had been a few years since the Doctor had last encountered the Master. Somehow, that clever mastermind had managed to find a way to escape the Time War`s Time-lock after preventing the Time Lords bringing about the "End of Time itself" and gained a new set of regenerations in the process along with his own Tardis. The universe had become a much more dangerous place the day the Master returned.

_Flashback_  
_ After saying goodbye to the Queen, the Doctor decided to pay a visit to his most recent and former companions, Natalie Fawkes. The young college student had met the Doctor during one of the Doctor`s many visits to London, England and they spent many months journeying across space and time. Yet, Natalie eventually became homesick, and wanted to return to Earth to continue to studies to become a history archivist, although she did promise to occasionally travel with the Doctor. _

Present Time  
The Doctor paused in his walk. He was near Trafalgar Square. Natalie had told him that her favorite thing to do when she was young was go to Trafalgar Square and play with all her friends. He smiled to herself: Natalie was always a bit of a tomboy, quite courageous and always showing compassion towards everyone, despite her own fiery personality. The Doctor glanced at the London National Art Gallery in the distance. where a certain painting of a still-long lost planet was hanging, and continued on his way.


	2. Revisiting

_Flashback_

_ The Doctor in front of Natalie house. As he walked towards the front door, he started to hesitate as he remembered what happened the last time he forgot to give Natalie a visit. It did NOT end well. "Well, I`m sure she will understand,right? After all, I did save the universe from a god-like madman before I regenerated so...I hopefully won`t be strangled by her like last time..." The Doctor was now in front of the front door. He before knocked four times. The door was opened by a tall, pale, thin-faced woman with short black-hair and was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt with black jeans and combat boots . "Yeah? Can I help you?" the woman asked in a southern London accent. _

_"Ah, Natalie, so glad to see you!" the Doctor exclaimed._

_The woman frowned. "I`m sorry have we met before?"_

_"Natalie, its me, the Doctor!"_

_"...Doctor?" the woman repeated. _

_"Yeah, its me! The old genius madman you used to travel with in the Tardis! And used to almost kill because I forgot visit you for a long time! Remember?"_

_"You...the Tardis... YOU REGENERATED!?" Natalie exclaimed. _

_"Of course! New face here, see?" The Doctor pointed at his own face just for emphasis. _

_Natalie was silent for a moment. The Doctor gave a nervous grin and then Natalie stepped forward and slapped the Doctor in the face. Hard. So hard that a little leftover regeneration energy flowed out of the Doctor`s mouth.  
_

_"Oi! What for that for?" The Doctor rubbed his face. _

_"You, mister, were gone for an entire year!" Natalie shrieked at him. "Do you realize how worried I was about you!?" _

_"Hey, calm down Nat! I was just-" _

_"Shut up! I thought you died! I thought that madman I met years ago was-" Natalie sobbed and suddenly gave the Doctor a huge hug. _

_"Hey...its alright...I`m still here..." The Doctor whispered, hugging Natalie back. _

_"I know...I just..." Natalie pushed away from the Doctor and gave him a death glare. _

_"You have a LOT of explaining to do..." _


	3. Searching

Present Time

The Doctor silently showed his psychic paper to the guard at the palace gate. The guard nodded and opened the gate for him. The Doctor gave a brief salute and walked into the palace. Somehow, this incarnation was not as extroverted as his previous lives. As he was walking towards the palace, the Doctor looked down at his tattered clothes. He really needed to get himself new clothes from the Tardis wardrobe as he had not changed his clothing since before his regeneration.

_Flashback_

_ The Doctor finished his explanation of why he regenerated. and why he was in London. Natalie was silent for a moment and then, "So...the Queen herself asked you to investigate a threat that might destroy all of Britain?" _

_"Basically...yep." The Doctor replied. _

_Natalie stood up from her chair, walked over to where the Doctor was sitting, and punched the Doctor in the face. Hard. _

_"Ow! What did I do to you this time?" The Doctor asked, wincing from the blow. _

_"You #$$%&! came to talk to me when all of Britain is going to be destroyed!? Get out of here and go stop that old $%# !" Natalie yelled. Then she grabbed the Doctor by his hair and dragged him out of her house. _

_"New face, same reaction by her..." the Doctor mentally said to himself._

* * *

Later

_ After being forced to ride on a motorbike driven by Natalie across London for an hour in search any sight of the Master, the Doctor started to regret ever visiting Natalie in the first place. _

_"Nat..." the Doctor said. _

_"WHAT!?" Natalie asked as she drove over the speed limit for the 12th time. _

_"Don`t you think we should search for the Master in a more...well, logical method instead of speeding around London all day?" the Doctor asked timidly. _

_Natalie slammed on the brakes on her motorbike, causing the Doctor to almost fly out of the motorbike. _

_"Well, why didn`t you say so before?" Natalie asked sweetly. _

_"Cause if I said as much as a word to you when you are angry, I would get tossed into a trash can..." the Doctor muttered._

_"WHAT WAS THAT!?"_

_"Uh-Nothing!" _

* * *

_A few minutes later - Natalie`s House_

_"Okay, so most of the Master`s sightings were near the Big Ben. You have any clue of what he may be up to?" Natalie asked while looking at a classified UNIT file that she had hacked on her laptop._

_"A little bit...and its very bad..." The Doctor said while stirring a cup of tea. "During the Time War, the Time Lords hid some of their most powerful weapons on other planets as a sort of emergency backup in case the Daleks invaded. I remember that inside the Big Ben, there was a small rift in space-time that hides an experimental Gallifreyan weapon inside it. The rift would only open in presence of two Time Lords, which is why I never could disable the weapon. The Master probably remembered this and decided to use the weapon on the humanity, just to see what would happen." _

_"What if you just don`t go there? That way the rift won`t open and the Master can`t access the weapon?" _

_"It would not work, the Master would probably just find a way to open the rift by force and destroy most of London in the process. Rifts are unpredictably dangerous if handled in the wrong way..."_

_"So...what are we waiting for? Let`s go meet a madman!" Natalie jumped up the chair where she was listening. _

_"The problem is, I don`t have my sonic screwdriver anymore and knowing the Master, he`s probably going use the weapon as soon as I arrive so I really..." The Doctor started before Natalie dragged him by his scarf out the door._


	4. Overtime

_Flashback_

_They left the motorbike at Parliament Square, near the clock tower. It was a short walk to the Big Ben, and using the Doctor`s psychic paper, they were easily able to access the inside of the old clock tower._

_"So...Doctor, you actually have a plan on how to stop the Master?" Natalie asked as they climbed a small staircase towards the top of the tower._

_"Nope, what`s the point of having a plan when you aren`t going to use it?" the Doctor replied cheerfully._

_Natalie rolled her eyes and climbed the staircase faster._

_They finally reached the top of the clock tower and were now in a large room filled with the clock`s inner mechanisms and a large bell that was hanging at the center of the room. Standing in front of the bell, was a thin-faced young man with ginger hair and was wearing a dark gray suit, a black tie, and light gray pants and boots._

_"Ah, my dear Doctor, so glad that you figured out to come here...I must say, you seem to get younger every time we meet! I see that you brought along your little 'girlfriend' too!" the man said with a charismatic, yet arrogant tone._

_"Master...You must be getting desperate when you can`t think of any other world-domination plan besides using weapons from the Time War." The Doctor replied. Natalie just silently glared at the Master._

_"Oh, dear Doctor, you have no idea of what 'weapon' is inside this primitive clock tower. Observe" the Master reached out his left hand and reached into what seemed to be an invisible compartment in the air. "This, here, is a chrono-rift in space-time. Only Time Lords are able to see it and only the presence of two Time Lords and a Tardis could open it. Many Time Lords use these chrono-rifts to store classified items for later use and it just happens that this rift hides an object that I desire very much."_

_The Master pulled his hand backwards and out of the seemly invisible compartment came a hand-sized glowing white sphere. "This is the Overtime Initiator. When activated, it will create a 1200 kilometer rip in the space-time continuum that would cause Britain to never exist! Oh, and that`s not all, since Britain has and will play a vital role in Earth`s history, the removal of the country from existence would cause multiple time-paradoxes that would slowly destroy much of modern Earth itself! Quite an ingenious plan, isn`t it? the Master asked._

_"Listen, Master. You don`t have to do this, put the weapon down and I`ll let you go...don`t bring humankind into this." The Doctor said._

_"Oh, my dear Doctor, I`ll bring humankind into this as much as I want! After all, most of your companions that helped defeat me in the past were human, were they not?" the Master asked. "I must thank you for trying to stop me. Since you came to find me, you only aided me in getting the weapon in my hands faster! I now have - wait, where is that pretty little companion of yours?"_

_"Hey." someone from behind the Master said._

_The Master whirled around only to be smashed in the face by a long metal rod wielded by Natalie, who had somehow sneaked behind the Master when he was talking._

_"Natalie! I was just about to do something clever while he was talking!" the Doctor said as he hurried forward grab the sphere that had rolled out of the unconscious Master`s hand._

_"Well, my method is faster!" Natalie retorted._

_"Oh, this is bad." the Doctor said as he looked at the Gallifreyan symbols etched onto the sphere._

_"What?"_

_"The sphere too is activated by the presence of two Time Lords and a Tardis. I can`t stop it in time when I don`t have my sonic screwdriver or other gadgets. It will create a space-time rip in about...let`s see... two and a half minutes."_

_"Can`t you, like, place it back into the chrono-rift?"_

_"No, the chrono-rift would not be able to contain sphere`s power."_

_"What about the Tardis?"_

_"I can`t get to there in time, there is no other-" the Doctor stopped. "Natalie, you are a GENIUS!"_

_"What?"_

_"Knowing the Master he probably parked his Tardis near him so he can get away safety. The sphere can only continue its activation in the immediate presence of two Time Lords and a Tardis so the users can get away in time. All we have to do is to send his Tardis somewhere else and the sphere will deactivate!"_

_"So...where is his Tardis?"_

_"It`s in disguise somewhere inside the clock-tower...hmmm...that wooden shed doesn`t look like it belongs here."_

_The Doctor walked over to the wooden shed. "I can feel vortex energy coming off of this shed...Natalie, drag the Master over here, would you?"_

_Natalie dragged the Master in front of his Tardis by his own tie._

_The Doctor grabbed the Master`s hands. "Most Tardises have an isomorphic security lock, which means that the Tardis doors can only open by the Master`s own hands." The Doctor made the unconscious Master grab the wooden shed`s doors and pushed open._

_"There we go...Natalie, wait here with the Master, and make sure he doesn`t wake up."_

_The Doctor rushed into the wooden shed and a moment later, he walked out and the Master`s Tardis dematerialized behind him. The Doctor walked glanced at the Overtime Sphere in his hands again. "Okay, the sphere is now deactivated and the Master`s Tardis is now materializing at a random point in space-time..." the Doctor said as he pocketed the sphere in his suit pocket._

_"Now...what should we do about you, Mr. Master...?"_


	5. London Evening

Present Time  
After giving the Queen a basic summary of the day`s events, the Doctor headed alone towards the palace gardens. It was a beautiful evening and the Doctor wondered if the Tardis had recovered from the crash-landing. Then he remembered what he noticed on the Tardis console monitor before the crash-landing and hurried forward, more anxious than ever to get back to his Tardis.

* * *

_Flashback_

_ Natalie wanted to break every bone in the Master`s body for threatening to destroy Britain, only the Doctor stopped her and promised that he will make sure the Master will be taken to a place where he will never harm anyone ever again. Now, about a minute after the Doctor had deactivated the sphere, the Doctor had completely disarmed the Master and was waiting for him to wake up. Natalie was standing near the Doctor and was holding her metal rod to make sure the Master won`t try anything. _

_"Ahhh..." the Master groaned as he opened his eyes. "I see that you made my Tardis dematerialize and disabled the Overtime Sphere...quite ingenious of you..." _

_"Game over, Master," the Doctor said harshly."I`m taking you away." _

_"My dear Doctor, the game is just beginning...just wait until you see what big plans me and my friends have for the universe.." the Master leapt up and before the Doctor or Natalie could react, the Master ran over to the place where the invisible Chrono-rift was and pulled out a vortex manipulator and a what seemed to be a golden sonic screwdriver. _

_Natalie ran forward with her iron rod. "Natalie WAIT!" the Doctor screamed. The Master pointed his "sonic screwdriver" at Natalie and sent her flying backwards in a flash of light. _

_"NATALIE!" the Doctor stepped towards Natalie`s body, hesitated for a second, and turned angrily towards the Master. _

_"Oh, do calm down Doctor, I only knocked her unconscious as a farewell present to you. I knew that you were somehow going to defeat me so I hid a vortex manipulator and my laser screwdriver in the Chrono-rift as you arrived as a means of escape." the Master explained. "So...twenty regenerations later and you still are trying to act the role of a hero! Enjoy your new incarnation, Doctor, for when we meet again, your fate will already be sealed!"  
_

_The Master pointed his laser screwdriver at the Doctor and fired. The Doctor was too late to react and was hit in his scarf, causing him to fall onto the ground. "Whoopsies, I missed." the Master said in a child-like voice before pressing activating his vortex manipulator and disappearing. _

* * *

Present Time

The Doctor winced as he remembered. He had inspected his scarf earlier and found that there seemed to be no damage after the laser screwdriver hit it. The only sign that something had ever happened to the scarf was that there were now more Gallifreyan symbols floating on the scarf`s fabric that conveyed the Doctor`s thoughts and emotions. It almost seemed that the Master had missed the Doctor on purpose before disappearing...

* * *

_Flashback - Evening_

_ The Doctor used Natalie`s motorbike to help carry her back to her house near the London National Art Gallery. When the Doctor woke her up when they were in her house and explained what had happened. Natalie was worried about the Master`s laser screwdriver attack on the Doctor, yet he assured her that he was fine. When the Doctor was about to return to his Tardis, he asked Natalie if she wanted to continue to be his companion. Natalie declined the offer, saying that she still wants to continue to stay in London for a while and continue her studies, yet she told the Doctor that if he ever needed her help, he will know where and when to find her. She added that if the Doctor EVER did not come to visit her for a long time again, she will make him REGRET it. The Doctor only smiled at this. _

_As he was walking out the door, Natalie stopped him and suddenly gave the bewildered Doctor a long kiss. "I can`t help it, you look much better than your previous, older face" she apologized, and then told the Doctor to get out of her house and go save the universe once more. _

* * *

Present Time

The Doctor reminded himself that he really needed to look at himself in a mirror, since he still does not know what this new face looks like. He stopped at the front doors of the Tardis and looked up. The full moon was rising and he could see a breathtaking number of stars and constellations in the early night sky. He was reminded of something that his first incarnation once said: _"It all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure"_. The Doctor smiled at this memory and entered the Tardis once more.

_ To be continued_

_Author`s Note - There is a clue in this story of how the Doctor will die at the end of his incarnation..._


End file.
